Chapter 5 Chapter Five The Man Behind the Door
The limousine slowed as it approached the towering black iron gates of the McCloud estate. They opened with a metallic groan, revealing a long stone path framed by ancient trees and lamps glowing like watchful eyes.
When the car finally stopped at the mansion’s entrance, a staff member rushed to open the door.
Meadow stepped out.
Her breath caught.
The McCloud estate looked like a fortress carved from the bones of an old kingdom, massive, stony, beautifully intimidating. The kind of place built for legends and rulers, not for a mute girl who grew up invisible.
Its cold elegance stole the air from her lungs. She couldn’t believe she would be the lady of this house.
Or so she thought.
She tried, tried so hard, to push aside the sting of Joseph’s absence. She told herself she would forgive him, that she would try her best to be worthy, to rise above every whisper that said she was useless.
She wanted to prove everyone wrong.
A servant approached her with a stiff bow. “Follow me, please.”
Meadow did.
But instead of leading her into the main hall, the servant guided her down an increasingly deserted corridor. The lights dimmed with every step. The chatter of staff disappeared. Soon, the west wing was so silent it felt abandoned.
Meadow slowed, unease prickling her skin.
Why this way?
Why here?
Still, she followed.
They eventually stopped at a heavy wooden door with iron hinges. The servant raised her hand to knock, but her fingers trembled violently.
Meadow frowned.
What about Alpha Joseph terrified the staff this much?
The woman swallowed, knocked softly, then stepped back as though the door itself might bite her.
A long, cold silence.
Then,
“Come in,” a deep voice snarled, vibrating with authority and fury.
The servant flinched and pushed the door open, motioning Meadow inside with the same urgency as someone freeing a bird into a storm.
Meadow stepped in.
And the world changed.
The room was dark, curtains drawn tight, the air heavy with cold shadows. It was clean, beautifully furnished even, but the atmosphere was thick with something hostile. Something broken. Something dangerous.
She scanned the room…
And saw him.
Not Joseph.
A man in a wheelchair, back straight, jaw clenched, with eyes so sharp and bitter they could slice stone. His scowl looked carved into his face, as if he had forgotten how to do anything else.
His presence filled the room like a violent storm waiting for a reason to break.
Meadow’s heart stopped.
This wasn’t the brother everyone admired.
This wasn’t the Alpha she had been promised.
This was Alpha Ethan McCloud.
Joseph’s older brother.
The disgraced former Alpha.
The monster whispered about in dark corners.
She had been brought to him.
Before she could process it, his voice cut through the room like a whip.
“Get the fuck out.”
The command wasn’t directed at her, but it hit her like a physical blow. The servant nearly collapsed from fear and scrambled backward.
Ethan’s wolfish growl rattled the air, filled with venom and rage. He didn’t even glance at Meadow. She was beneath his notice. Invisible, as always.
“Why are you still standing there?” Ethan barked, eyes fixed on the servant.
The woman stammered, “A… Alpha, your wife is here,” then fled before she could witness the explosion.
Only then did Ethan turn.
His cold, furious eyes landed on Meadow.
And everything inside her crumbled.
Her stomach twisted. Her breath vanished. Her knees weakened.
She hadn’t married Joseph.
She had married Ethan.
The Luna hadn’t chosen her to be Joseph’s bride.
She had chosen her to be chained to the bitter, unloveable son everyone avoided, the one no she-wolf wanted, the one so monstrous even the staff’s hands shook approaching him.
Meadow felt tears threaten and swallowed hard, forcing them back.
She would not break here.
Not in front of him.
Ethan stared at her the way one might stare at a pest that wandered into the wrong room.
“Well,” he muttered darkly, “looks like my mother finally made good on her threat.”
Meadow’s breath hitched.
He continued, his tone dripping with disgust.
“So she got me a live-in nanny who can’t quit like the others.”
He didn’t say wife.
He didn’t say mate.
He didn’t say Luna.
He said nanny.
Like she was nothing.
Like she was furniture.
Like she was an inconvenience delivered to torment him.
He looked away as if she offended him simply by standing there.
The words hit Meadow like claws ripping through her heart. Her hope shattered. Her optimism died. All the dreams she’d dared to nurture collapsed into dust.
She stood frozen, tears streaming silently down her cheeks.
The goddess had never chosen her.
Fate had never favoured her.
The joke had always been on her.
And now she stood in a dark room, in a desolate wing of the McCloud estate…
Staring at the angry, broken, terrifying man who was now,
Her husband.
